So this is the last one of the Trial of the Crusader Strategists. Really. This time.

I am going to use this introductory paragraph to explain why the Grand Crusader is different - in general - and then dive into the specific details of each fight.

First, you start Trial of the Grand Crusader with 50 "unsuccessful attempts". Every time you wipe - or every time a boss resets, you lose 1 attempt. When you lose all 50, all bosses despawn and you can't do anything until the next reset. There are two reward systems, to promote better performance. The items that drop off bosses of higher level than the normal version of the raid - they are essentially the same items, with buffed stats. And then there is the Tribute Chest. As I understand it, the Tribute Chest will always contain 2 Trophies/Regalias (for 10/25 respectively) and a number of items. If you reach it with 25-44 attempts left, you get an extra Trophy/Regalia and an extra item. For 45-49 attempts left, you gain another one. And for a perfect run (50 attempts left), you get one unique mount and a very high level cloak.

Now that you are all familiar with the basic idea behind the Heroic raid mode, let's look into each fight and see how it's different than the its normal counterpart.

Why, hello there! You take your eyes away from the game for a little while and there it is - 5 years pass by. As Elling Trias would say: "5 years, you say? Well, you're certainly the bearer of wonderful news, aren't you? Next you're going to tell me that Onyxia is still alive and attacking the city." Well, what do you know - old Elling has a big surprise brewing up for him. Onyxia is in fact alive (kind of, but we don't mind) and back, ready to wreck raids once more!

And as you very well know, every time a new raid boss pops up, a new Strategist is spawned as well. Buckle up, break the piggy-bank with money for extra repair bills, stock up with flasks, and get ready for even MOAR DOTZ!

Here it is! Azjol-Nerub was merely a setback, spider power >8< forever, and RAID won't save you this time. Well, in a way it will. But not the one I linked. The one you will create. Get it, get it? Hmm?

Okay, the lame joke is out of the way. I had to make it. This is going to be the last of Trial of the Crusader (Normal) Strategists. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal to you - the raid was small, and the bosses weren't all that hard - but I think it's a good milestone for me. It's the first raid instance I've completed. Like, completely completed. I've written every single boss page, I've written a guide for every one of the bosses, I've modified the design a little so it fits. In other words - I feel accomplished.

Well, technically I have one more Strategist that should be posted before I am done - the one about the Trial of the Grand Crusader, i.e. the Heroic version of the raid. I decided that since I've written an extensive blog about each one of the fights, I don't need to copy 80% of those blogs into new ones, and just add the Heroic specifics to them. Instead I would just write a single blog that covers all 5 bosses, outlining the Heroic aspect of them. It sounds convenient enough - I imagine raiders who are about to start doing Trial of the Grand Crusader wouldn't want to read about the basics of each fight, since they will have probably done it. They would want only the differences in Heroic, and how to deal with them.

And now that I have my filler text done, we can move on. Below you will find how to deal with one of the greatest Crypt Lords of all time (although I suspect Icecrown Citadel will introduce another one, stronger, but one we have never heard about) - Anub'arak.

I think I've avoided this one long enough. The fight is chaotic and random, and different group compositions (for both the raid and the bosses) require different prioritizing. In other words - waiting more won't make the "strategy" any easier to write.

This being said, the term "strategy" is used very loosely. I won't give you a strategy - instead I will offer a short description of the strong and weak sides of each possible opponent, some way you can negate his or her weaknesses, and hopefully a tip as to how dangerous the specific miniboss is.

Long time no see! I know you haven't seen the Faction Champions guide yet - and frankly, I am not looking forward to it. My guild did fairly well this week (not a single wipe until Anub'arak, and even then only a few), but I am still not feeling confident enough to provide detailed description of that third encounter. Probably because it's so chaotic, you can't really grab a strategy and execute it every time by the letter, and expect it to work. So expect Anub'arak, and maybe even some Heroic notions before the Faction Champions. I also accept suggestions on my email (found in my profile) as to how to deal with them.

With BlizzCon around, school (re)starting and twice as much raiding as before (now I lead my own group, and that eats my time a little), I haven't had a whole lot of time for guides. I try though. I've had most of this done a little while ago, but I got a chance to finish it just now. This may be bad news for some, others might be indifferent, but I personally dislike being behind on schedule, even if it's as flexible as mine. It doesn't help to say that you probably will see the Twin Val'kyr Strategist before the Faction Champions one - the latter is just too chaotic, and I doubt there will be a viable strategy anywhere for a long time.

Anyway, enough of my woes. This time it's Lord Jaraxxus - an eredar lord summoned by Wilfred Fizzlebang (master summoner). Thank or curse the little gnome for cheating you and summoning a mighty demon instead of a measly Doomguard. Whichever one you choose, it matters not - it's eredar you get. Read on, heroes, and find out how to defeat not one but two Jaraxxus!

Ulduar's Strategist was kind of a filler. Many of you had already done it, and a new patch was coming. However this new patch is here now, and it makes sense to start writing more contemporary guides. You know, stuff people might actually get to use. Worry not, Ulduar won't be forgotten - just pushed down the list for a while.

I have found myself with some time in my hands, and nothing in particular to do, so I thought I'd put another Strategist together. Hoping that somebody actually reads and uses these... ;)

Also, before I actually start writing, I will have you know that this boss is actually rather hard for my guild. I think we might be doing something wrong - it's not that the strategy doesn't work, it's just messy.

*mutters darkly* Slow internet, sitting out of raids this week, poor weather for going out... Which means more Strategists this week!

A little known fact about Kologarn - Brann Bronzebeard wiped on him. So you better read carefully and not repeat the dwarven explorer's mistake. In addition to this, Kologarn is a mandatory boss, whom you need to kill in order to reach the Keepers' sanctums. And then Yogg-Saron. His dead body will become the bridge to the Observation Ring, and Ulduar's archivist - Auriaya. Body crafted personally by Ignis the Furnace Master, who hopefully lies dead by his forge by the time you get to Kologarn. You are quite a decimating group of raiders, aren't you? :)

Well, I did earn The Siege of Ulduar, did I not? Made an entry for each one of the Siege bosses, that I did. Made me wonder how adequate the term "siege" is, when the only Expedition forces are in the base camp and around Razorscale - looks we've been storming Ulduar, not besieging it. But that's just my thoughts :)

So this time it's the Assembly of Iron. What many people call 'the Iron Council'. The three Iron Generals represent each of the iron races in the Iron Army (they also love iron). Steelbreaker, the biggest and physically strongest of them all, is an Iron Giant with colossal strength. Runemaster Molgeim is an Iron Vrykul, who has mastered the art of rune magic. Stormcaller Brundir is an Iron Dwarf with a master's touch in the lightning magic, who hates being mocked for his height.

The Assembly of Iron has taken residence in the left wing of the Antechamber of Ulduar, just next to the Archivum - a great Titanic machinery, built to store and categorize information about the world. The Council is an optional encounter with total of six difficulty levels. Killing Brundir last (Steelbreaker - Molgeim - Brundir usually) is the normal mode of the encounter, and killing Steelbreaker is the hard one. Killing Molgeim or Steelbreaker last also guarantees the drop of Archivum Data Disc, which is the beginning of the Algalon quest-line.